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Gulf's recovery a big question

Even if BP successfully caps its leaking Deepwater Horizon oil well, scientists are not sure how long it will take for the oil and gas already in the Gulf of Mexico to dissipate.

Bacteria in the deep ocean are feasting on enough methane to double their number in 24 hours - a "jaw-dropping" rate, University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye said Tuesday during her biweekly news conference.

The good news is the microbes are eating the methane that has been flowing out of the blown-out well on the bottom of the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people.

The bad news is, the tiny organisms are consuming oxygen that other marine life also needs to survive.

If and when the leak is shut off, bacteria will process the methane eventually, Joye said, but she was not sure how long that would take or where giant underwater plumes of suspended oil and gas would drift next.

And when the methane breaks down, Joye said it could turn into something worse.

"We really have to worry about that as much as we worry about all the oil and gas," she said.

Joye's news briefings, scaled back from weekly session to every other week, are based on research findings from she and other scientists who are analyzing water samples they took in the Gulf aboard a National Science Foundation-funded ship.

Based on samples Joye and her team of researchers collected in June, she said she is confident methane-eating bacteria won't turn the Gulf into an oxygen-free wasteland like the Black Sea, in spite of their explosive growth. They won't be able to sustain that growth for long before they run out of oxygen or other nutrients, she said.

She also said she expects the low-oxygen zones to be confined to deep water near the wellhead.

BP installed a new tight-fitting cap on the blown-out well Monday and says it could completely shut off the leak until a relief well is finished in mid-August. The new cap is being tested to see if it can withstand the pressure of escaping oil and methane while containment ships stand by in case it fails, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said.